'Richard Siddins of Port Jackson' is a well researched account of the part played by one of the early (and best known) merchant sea captains sailing out of Port Jackson. From 1804 to 1822 Siddins helped reap the rich harvest of seals and sandalwood on behalf of the Sydney traders. He took cargoes to China and India for them, and brought back Asian good for the colonial stores.
Because of these exports cargoes garnered from the sea, the little Colony of New South Wales was able to establish itself as a trading post before the interior of the continent was opened up.
The band of Port Jackson merchant captains was small - certainly less than 30 when he joined them. Siddens took little brigs into the unchartered bays for the Pacific Islands in his search for sandalwood and for gold from a wrecked privateer. He was invited to a cannibal feast, learned to speak Fijian, and his ship was once chased by a fleet of Tongan sailing canoes. One winter he was wrecked off Macquarie Island.
Siddins lived to see the first steamship enter Port Jackson and the beginning of the export staple wool. To the band of master mariners in the first few years of colonial shipping, the emerging Colony owed a great deal, and Richard Siddins was one of them.
Contents:
Foreword
Abbreviations
Chapter 1. Australia Bound
Chapter 2. Whaling Days
Chapter 3. Sealing
Chapter 4. Sandalwood Captain
Chapter 5. 'A Quantity of Gold Bars'
Chapter 6. Voyage to India
Chapter 7. Macquarie Island
Chapter 8. From China to Fiji
Chapter 9. Marriage and the Powell Family
Chapter 10. The South Shetlands Voyage
Chapter 11. Merchant Captains and Profits
Chapter 12. 'Old Age and Decay'
Chronology of Events
Appendix
Bibliography
- Published Sources
- Unpublished Sources
- Newspaper References
Index
